Computer hedge fund firm Henri Capital shuts down

March 28, 2013|Reuters

By Laurence Fletcher

LONDON, March 28 (Reuters) - A hedge fund spinout fromWinton Capital, one of the world's biggest hedge fund managers,is shutting down after less than two years of trading, as eventhe brightest start-ups find it tough attracting clients.

London-based Henri Capital, named after French mathematicianHenri Poincare, was set up by Joey Huang and Filip Wuytack tomanage Winton Octo, an equity long-short portfolio the pair hadbeen running in their capacity as senior researchers at Winton.

While hundreds of hedge funds shut down every year, Henri'sclosure represents the failure of a portfolio spun off from oneof the world's biggest and most successful fund firms.

A number of firms have spun out from computer hedge funds inrecent years, as researchers use their programming skills to tryand replicate some of the success that has, for example, led toWinton founder David Harding becoming one of Britain'swealthiest financiers.

The fund was around $100 million in size when it span outfrom Winton, which continued to provide support to Henri untilthe end of 2011. Wuytack said assets were being returned toclients but declined to give a more recent size for the fund.

"(Our departure from Winton) was absolutely very amicable,"said Wuytack. "We're still very grateful we were given theopportunity by David (Harding)." He declined to give furtherdetails of support given by Winton.

Winton declined to comment.

The closure comes as many start-ups struggle to raise fundsfrom nervous clients and establish themselves in a $2.3 billionindustry dominated by multi-billion dollar fund houses such asWinton, BlueCrest and Brevan Howard.

Last year 873 hedge funds folded, according to Hedge FundResearch, while 1,108 were launched. However, many closures gounreported due to the notoriously secretive nature of thesector.

High-profile closures announced last year includedDiamondback Capital and Edoma Partners.

Wuytack - still listed as an Henri employee on the FSAregister, but who has recently joined a computer hedge fund firmcalled John Street Capital set up by ex-Goldman Sachs bankers Johannes Hoff and Robert Pettit - said Henri's earlyperformance had been "relatively ok".

"There have been periods of double-digit losses in the past,but not when it (the fund) was managed by Henri," said Wuytack.